Final Fantasy 14 players mourn the cute otter backpacks they were briefly given in error, but Square Enix hopes they'll grab it again "when it is released through the intended method"

Tragedy follows joy in the Final Fantasy 14 community after Square Enix accidentally gave out a pile of completely free and utterly adorable otter backpacks to players. Unfortunately, the impromptu giveaway was a bug, and the devs will soon be snatching those little accessories away – but hey, you will at least have the chance to acquire them again in the future.

With the release of patch 7.5 earlier this week, many players suddenly found the Senor Otter Pack among their fashion accessories. The apparent gift was a bit weird, but hey, free stuff, right? Unfortunately, Square Enix quickly confirmed that the distribution of the Senor Otter Pack was a bug.

"The internal ID for the Senor Otter Pack was incorrectly configured to the same internal ID as the Black Embroidered Parasol fashion accessory," the studio explains in a list of tracked bugs. "As a result, unlocking the Black Embroidered Parasol currently unlocks the Senor Otter Pack."

So yes, your Senor Otter Pack will be taken away "in an upcoming hotfix," but the adorable little backpack will be released for real "as a future reward." It'll likely be part of the annual Make It Rain event, which should kick off next month. "We hope you will acquire the Senor Otter Pack again when it is released through the intended method," Square Enix says.

I will never forgive SE for this! from r/ffxiv

In the meantime, players are heading to the meme mines to mourn the little guy, evoking Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's gommage, the Thanos snap, and that Brooklyn Nine-Nine quote – you know the one – as they say goodbye to their inanimate otter pal.

Nobody actually seems too broken up about losing their Senor Otter Pack in the comments, but the profiteers are already all over it. The Black Embroidered Parasol, which currently grants bugged access to the new item, previously sold for around 100,000 gil, according to online auction house trackers. That same item now sells for several million gil, depending on what server you're on.

You can, of course, spend your in-game money however you like, but you might wanna hold off on panic-buying anything right now. Yes, the otter is cute, but you're probably gonna be able to get him as a very basic quest reward in just a few weeks' time.

Yoshi-P hoped we wouldn't notice, but Final Fantasy 14 Evercold is indeed inspired by Norse mythology.